Fun at School

On Friday last week I stayed a little longer when I took Reister to school. They headed up to the roof of the school for their outdoor playtime. The children were doing a mini-obstacle course. Reister didn't really follow it too well but some of the other kids were doing pretty good.

Teacher Yong (the one in the last post about school) I think she's the head teacher in his class

Teacher (?) I need to find out her name! She's not one of the main teachers in Reister's class so I'm not as familiar with her

Teacher Wu

Teacher Wen

This is Ya Ya - she is really cute and always very curious. She asks me a lot of questions, like where we live, whether Reister can speak Chinese, etc.

Going to see the Pandas!

We went to see the pandas at the panda research base last Thursday with our friend Jason and his daughter, Hannah Grace. They came in town specifically to go see them for her birthday present!

This sign was just inside - I was slightly appalled that the last verse of this quote was left off. But I guess that's the way things go here...

All these things and creatures just appeared, huh?

This was our favorite panda! He was just chillin, munching on bamboo. He kept peeling the sticks of bamboo and just going to town. We stood there watching him for quite a while. He resembles Po from Kung-Fu Panda, huh?

Family pic (can't really see Mason that well)

Here's Hannah Grace, who actually got to hold a baby panda (for a 'donation' of course)

Since you couldn't see Mason that well in the family pic, here are a couple of him with us. He has become such a HAPPY baby!

How sweet is his grin here?

Reister's teacher

Reister is going to a local preschool across from our apartment complex 3-4 mornings a week from 8:30-11:45am. He's liking it and enjoys playing with the toys and other kids. Here he is with one of his teachers - he has four - with his classroom in the background. For those of you in the US, is her attire typical for a preschool teacher in America? :)

Look alikes?

A lot of people ask if I we think Mason and Reister look alike. Here's Reister and Mason both about 8 months. What do you think?

Here's another of Reister in the walker he had also around 8 months

Brother Talk

Reister: "Mason, you know, I'm the big brother and you have to do whatever I tell you."


Mason: "Ha ha You're dreamin', bubba, I'm the baby with the cute glasses - I can get away with whatever I want."


Reister: "Hey, no, you're the 'WITTLE' brother. I'm the big brother and what I say goes."


Reister: "Oh... Mom were you sitting there the whole time? Just kidding :) "


Actually Reister doesn't try to "boss" Mason around too much. He just takes toys out of his hands, but he's getting better about giving him new ones if he does that. He does try to boss around other kids his age. Mainly he just wants them to do whatever he's doing but the other kids are still in the "I'll play beside you, not with you stage" so he gets ignored a lot. We're trying to help him understand that he can ask if they want to go with him or do what he's doing but they can also decline.
Mason loves just watching his big brother and often gets really tickled and starts laughing at him when he's running around or dancing or whatever. You can tell Mason is really going to look up to Reister and want to be just like him. That makes me really happy too, because I think Reister is a really stellar kid. He's got a sweet heart and I'm starting to see that he's not really at all exhibiting much "terrible two's" behavior. He is overall really pretty obedient and is getting more and more so and will listen to reason or explanation sometimes more than I expect him to. I really love being his and Mason's mom.

My Little Pirate

Here's Mason sporting his patch - two different days. He really hates wearing it - I'm so glad it's just for 30 minutes a day. It's hard to tell if it's really helping any but we're doing it consistently to at least try! As you can see from the pictures, he's sitting up on his own really well. He can lean forward to grab toys that have gotten out of his reach. But he can't get to the sitting position on his own yet. He still doesn't like to be on his tummy for too long but can roll from front to back and back to front (more easily). But he has gotten into a habit of sleeping on his stomach. I stopped swaddling him when I took him to Hong Kong and forgot his blanket. He is still not sleeping through the night consistently. Every several nights we'll have a good one. Last night was not one of those, though, and I think it was because his first tooth is coming in. I can see and feel it but it's not totally out yet. It's his bottom middle/left one. Mason is almost 8 1/2 months. Reister didn't get his first tooth until 9 months and it was on top (both came in right around the same time I think). Mason is getting to be a happier baby all around. He LOVES his solids - especially anything salty and seasoned. I've made him peas, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, spinach, apples, bananas, chicken, and also blended up meals we were having such as Hamburger Helper (thanks to the local import store), potato corn chowder soup, taco soup, and stir fried cabbage.